What is Markdown?

Markdown is a lightweight markup language that you can use to add formatting elements to plaintext text documents. Created by John Gruber in 2004, Markdown is now one of the world’s most popular markup languages.

Why To Use Markdown?

Markdown can be used for everything. People use it to create websites, documents, notes, books, presentations, email messages, and technical documentation.
Markdown is platform independent. You can create Markdown-formatted text on any device running any operating system.
Markdown is portable. Files containing Markdown-formatted text can be opened using virtually any application.
Markdown is future proof. Even if the application you’re using stops working at some point in the future, you’ll still be able to read your Markdown-formatted text using a text editing application.
Markdown is everywhere. Websites like Reddit and GitHub support Markdown, and lots of desktop and web-based applications support it.

Where Markdown is Used?

Markdown is a markup language for formatting text using simple syntaxes. It is widely used for blogging, websites, comment management services, readme files, and documentation. The markdown syntaxes are combinations of special characters with plain texts.

What you can do with Markdown?

Notes

In nearly every way, Markdown is the ideal syntax for taking notes. Application that support markdown are :

Obsidian is a popular Markdown note-taking application loaded with features.
Simplenote is a free, barebones note-taking application available for every platform.
Notable is a note-taking application that runs on a variety of platforms.

Documentation

Markdown is a natural fit for technical documentation. Companies like GitHub are increasingly switching to Markdown for their documentation. Some of the handy tools for Documentation are :

Read the Docs Read the Docs simplifies software documentation by automating building, versioning, and hosting of your docs for you.
MkDocs MkDocs is a fast, simple and downright gorgeous static site generator that's geared towards building project documentation.
Docusaurus is a static site generator designed exclusively for creating documentation websites. It supports translations, search, and versioning

Websites

Markdown was designed for the web, so it should come as no surprise that there are plenty of applications specifically designed for creating website content.

Email

If you send a lot of email and you’re tired of the formatting controls available on most email provider websites, you’ll be happy to learn there’s an easy way to write email messages using Markdown. Markdown Here is a free and open-source browser extension that converts Markdown-formatted text into HTML that’s ready to send.

Advantages of Markdown

Markdown provides semantic meaning for content in a relatively simple way
You can write rich formatted content extremely quickly (compared to writing directly in HTML tags)
You can read Markdown easily in plain text before rendered by HTML
It doesn’t interrupt your workflow with the need to click buttons
It’s platform-agnostic so your content is not tied to the format of your editor
It increases the productivity due to less focus on fancy styles.
It's open Source

Markdown Syntaxes :

Headings

The syntax of the heading starts with a # symbol followed by a space and the heading text. For level one heading you should use one #, for level two ## and so on until level 6.

# Heading 1
## Heading 2
### Heading 3
#### Heading 4
##### Heading 5
###### Heading 6

Output of the `Heading` syntax :

Heading 1

Heading 2

Heading 3

Heading 4

Heading 5

Heading 6

Paragraph

To create paragraphs, use a blank line to separate one or more lines of text.

I really like using Markdown. 
I think I will use it to format all of my documents from now on.

Output of the `Paragraph` syntax :

I really like using Markdown.
I think I will use it to format all of my documents from now on.

Bold

To bold text, add two asterisks or underscores before and after a word or phrase. To bold the middle of a word, add two asterisks without spaces around the letters.

I just love **bold text**
I just love __bold text__
I just **love** bold text

Output of the `Bold` syntax :

I just love bold text.
I just love bold text.
I just love bold text.

Italic

To italicize text, add one asterisk or underscore before and after a word or phrase. To italicize the middle of a word, add one asterisk without spaces around the letters.

Italicized *Text*.
Italicized _Text_.
I*t*lic*ized Text.

Output of the `Italic` syntax :

Italicized Text.
Italicized Text.
Itlicized Text.

Blockquotes

To create a blockquote, add a > in front of a paragraph.

> Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.

Output of the `Blockquotes` syntax :

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.

Lists

You can organize items into ordered and unordered lists.

Ordered Lists
Unordered Lists

Ordered Lists

To create an ordered list, add line items with numbers followed by periods. The numbers don’t have to be in numerical order, but the list should start with the number one.

1. First item
2. Second item
3. Third item
4. Fourth item

Output of the `Ordered List` syntax :

First item
Second item
Third item
Fourth item

1. First item
1. Second item
9. Third item
5. Fourth item

Output of the `Ordered List` syntax :

First item
Second item
Third item
Fourth item

1. First item
3. Second item
5. Third item
    2. Indented item
    1. Indented item
7. Fourth item

Output of the `Ordered List` syntax :

First item
Second item
Third item
1. Indented item
2. Indented item
Fourth item

Unordered Lists

To create an unordered list, add dashes (-), asterisks (*), or plus signs (+) in front of line items. Indent one or more items to create a nested list.

- First item
- Second item
- Third item
- Fourth item

Output of the `Unordered List` syntax :

First item
Second item
Third item
Fourth item

* First item
* Second item
* Third item
* Fourth item

Output of the `Unordered List` syntax :

First item
Second item
Third item
Fourth item

+ First item
+Second item
+ Third item
    + First item
    * Second item
    - Third Item
+ Fourth item

Output of the `Unordered List` syntax :

First item
Second item
Third item
- First item
- Second item
- Third Item
Fourth item

Links

To create a link, enclose the link text in brackets (e.g., [ineuron.ai]) and then follow it immediately with the URL in parentheses (e.g., (ineuron.ai)).

My favorite Learning Platform is [ineuron.ai](https://ineuron.ai)

Output of the `Link` syntax :

My favorite Learning Platform is ineuron.ai

Images

To add an image, add an exclamation mark (!), followed by alt text in brackets, and the path or URL to the image asset in parentheses. You can optionally add a title in quotation marks after the path or URL.

![LCO Mascot](https://learncodeonline.in/mascot.png)

Output of the `Image` syntax :

LCO Mascot

Strike

For strikethrough, we use a double tilde ~~ sign before and after the text

~~The world is flat.~~ We now know that the world is round.

Output of the `Strike` syntax :

Code Block

For the code block syntax, you have to enclose the code block within the three backticks symbol.

```js
function print() {
 console.log('This is is a JavaScript Code Block');
}
```

Output of the `Codeblock` syntax :

function print() {
 console.log('This is is a JavaScript Code Block');
}

Mention

You can mention @users and @teams on GitHub. Mainly useful when submitting or commenting on bugs and issues.

Output of the `Mention` syntax :

You can mention @users and @teams on GitHub. Mainly useful when submitting or commenting on bugs and issues.

Checkbox

- [x] Write the press release
- [ ] Update the website
- [ ] Contact the media

Output of the `Checkbox` syntax :

Table

The table syntax can be a bit overwhelming to start with, but if you pay attention to it, it is easy!

The table header and the rest of the rows are separated by | ----------- | ----------- |
Each of the table cells in a row must be enclosed like | CELL_TEXT |

| State | Capital |
| ----------- | ----------- |
| Karnataka | Bengaluru |
| Maharashtra | Mumbai |

Output of the `Table` syntax :

State	Capital
Karnataka	Bengaluru
Maharashtra	Mumbai

Conclusion

With this article I hope one will get clear idea how to use the markdown. Do share your thoughts and opinion in the comment.

Getting Started with Markdown

An overview of Markdown, how it works, and what you can do with it.

Table of contents

What is Markdown?

Why To Use Markdown?

Where Markdown is Used?

What you can do with Markdown?

Notes

Documentation

Websites

Email

Advantages of Markdown

Markdown Syntaxes :

Headings

Output of the Heading syntax :

Heading 1

Heading 2

Heading 3

Heading 4

Heading 5

Heading 6

Paragraph

Output of the Paragraph syntax :

Bold

Output of the Bold syntax :

Italic

Output of the Italic syntax :

Blockquotes

Output of the Blockquotes syntax :

Lists

Ordered Lists

Output of the Ordered List syntax :

Output of the Ordered List syntax :

Output of the Ordered List syntax :

Unordered Lists

Output of the Unordered List syntax :

Output of the Unordered List syntax :

Output of the Unordered List syntax :

Links

Output of the Link syntax :

Images

Output of the Image syntax :

Strike

Output of the Strike syntax :

Code Block

Output of the Codeblock syntax :

Mention

Output of the Mention syntax :

Checkbox

Output of the Checkbox syntax :

Table

Output of the Table syntax :

Conclusion

Did you find this article valuable?

Output of the `Heading` syntax :

Output of the `Paragraph` syntax :

Output of the `Bold` syntax :

Output of the `Italic` syntax :

Output of the `Blockquotes` syntax :

Output of the `Ordered List` syntax :

Output of the `Ordered List` syntax :

Output of the `Ordered List` syntax :

Output of the `Unordered List` syntax :

Output of the `Unordered List` syntax :

Output of the `Unordered List` syntax :

Output of the `Link` syntax :

Output of the `Image` syntax :

Output of the `Strike` syntax :

Output of the `Codeblock` syntax :

Output of the `Mention` syntax :

Output of the `Checkbox` syntax :

Output of the `Table` syntax :